


love in the library

by doodles357



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Library, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22636840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodles357/pseuds/doodles357
Summary: Cyrus works at the library and he can't help but notice a cute guy who keeps coming in to check stuff out.
Relationships: Cyrus Goodman/T. J. Kippen
Comments: 21
Kudos: 218





	love in the library

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure: I work in a library, so all the technical stuff about working in a library is based off my own experiences. This is an AU and they're both in their 20s, but I didn't have a specific age in mind.

It was a relatively quiet day at the library. Cyrus was up at the reference desk, which tended to not get as much traffic as the main circulation desk. There were a few people using the computers, and one or two browsing the stacks, but nobody was requiring his immediate attention, and he was able to work on checking some books in. 

This was his favorite part about working at the library; when it was peaceful and quiet and everyone was focused on their own things and it was just a room full of quiet concentration. He enjoyed helping people out when they needed it, but it could definitely get overwhelming at times. So he was enjoying the quiet while it lasted. 

One of the guys sitting at the computer behind him got up, and walked around to the front of the desk.

“Hi, I printed something off?” he said, sounding a little unsure. “Is there a reason it didn’t come out of the printer?”

“Yup, I have to send it through,” Cyrus told him, checking the print queue. Sure enough, there was a document waiting. “4 pages in color?” When the guy nodded, he hit print.

“That’ll be two dollars,” he said as the printer booted up and started shooting out pages. The guy rummaged through his wallet and pulled out the money.

“Thanks...Cyrus,” the guy said after glancing at Cyrus’ name tag, and he flashed a bright smile at him. Cyrus smiled back, feeling a little surprised. It always was a little strange when patrons used his name, even though he always wore a name tag. If they were strangers, it was a little off-putting at times. Especially if they were upset about something, and seemed to be using it in a mocking way. But this guy seemed genuine and Cyrus couldn't help but notice that he was also very cute. He had floppy blond hair and green eyes that seemed to twinkle back at him.

Not that it mattered. Because he was likely straight, and Cyrus had never seen him at the library before, so he was probably only there to print something off. They had a lot of regular patrons, but there were also a lot of people who only stopped in every once in a while, and he was sure this guy was one of those. 

The guy gathered his papers and headed for the stairs. However, he turned before he left, flashed another smile at Cyrus and said,

“Have a great day!”

“You too!” Cyrus replied, smiling back. After the guy left, he shook his head and tried to refocus on work. No use thinking about cute guys that he would never see again.

\---

Two days later, he was down at the circulation desk when he happened to glance up and see the same guy walk in. He headed straight upstairs to where the reference desk was, not even glancing over at the circulation desk. Cyrus mentally kicked himself for the little leap of excitement that he felt when he saw the guy. He was probably just there to print something off again. A lot of people came in to use the color printing, since most didn’t have it at home. 

He was distracted as a mom came up to the counter, three kids in tow, and a pile of picture books. By the time he had finished checking her stuff out, and the older gentleman behind her who spent a few minutes complaining about a fine for an overdue book, he had forgotten about the cute guy. That was, until he came back downstairs, a few papers in hand.

Cyrus automatically plastered on his customer-service smile without even thinking about it, as the guy glanced over and met his gaze. Cyrus was sure it was his imagination, but it almost seemed as though the guy’s eyes lit up with recognition. He grinned widely at Cyrus and lifted a hand in acknowledgement as he left the library. Normally Cyrus would have called out for him to have a good day, but he found himself suddenly tongue tied. Resisting the urge to smack his own forehead, he tried to refocus on his job.

Over the next week or so, he began noticing the guy in the library quite often. He usually seemed to be going upstairs to work on the computer, but every once in a while, he wandered through the stacks. Cyrus’ shifts kept him moving around to various parts of the library, although he spent most of his time at either of the main desks. This meant that he saw the guy quite frequently, although their interactions were mostly smiles and nods of acknowledgment. 

He knew it was stupid; just because the guy was cute and friendly, it didn’t mean anything for him. Lots of people were friendly and willing to strike up a conversation. And he had barely talked to the guy, aside from their very brief conversation on that first day that he had printed something off. Maybe it was the fact that the majority of the people that came into the library were either his parents’ age and older, or high school age and younger. There were very few people his own age that he had the opportunity to interact with on a regular basis (and definitely a lack of cute guys his own age). 

\---

After about three weeks of the guy coming in to use the computer or scan the DVD shelves, he finally checked something out. Cyrus was working at the circulation desk when the guy came up with a DVD in hand. 

“Hello,” Cyrus said, his tone of voice lilting into his talking-to-the-public tone. He normally didn’t notice it, but it sounded almost fake now, and he winced internally. 

“Hi,” the guy replied, apparently not noticing. He grinned at Cyrus and placed the DVD - the new  _ John Wick _ movie - down on the counter. “I’d like to check that out please.”

“Sure,” Cyrus said with a smile, waiting patiently for a moment. The guy didn’t move, and Cyrus said,

“Do you have your card?”

“Oh, yeah!” the guy exclaimed, fumbling for his wallet. “Duh. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Cyrus replied. He was used to people dumping a pile of books in front of him and then spending five minutes digging through their pockets for their card. 

He accepted the card from the guy and scanned it in.  _ TJ Kippen,  _ the name read, and he handed the card back before pulling the DVD forward. The whole transaction only took a few minutes, and he was soon printing out the receipt and handing it back to the guy - TJ - along with the DVD. 

“It’s going to be due back on the fifth,” he said.

“Thanks,” TJ replied, giving him another grin. Cyrus felt his heart give a little flutter - damn, this guy was attractive. 

“Have a good day,” he said, hoping that he wasn’t blushing.

“You too,” TJ replied. He didn’t break eye contact with Cyrus until he had turned all the way around to leave.

Well. This was going to be a problem.

\---

TJ kept coming in to the library over the next few weeks. Cyrus wasn’t always working at the desk, but he had a tendency to notice when the other guy was there. He checked out a few more movies, and on the occasions that Cyrus was the one checking his materials out, TJ would casually chit chat with him. At one point, he asked if Cyrus had any recommendations.

“Do you mean for movies or books?” Cyrus asked. TJ was checking out the new  _ Aladdin  _ movie, but in the past had also taken out action movies, a few historicals, a couple of musicals, and season three of  _ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine _ . 

“Books, I guess,” TJ said as Cyrus pulled up their catalog. “I’ve been trying to read more, but I don’t really know where to start.”

“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Cyrus said distractedly as he navigated through the online menu. TJ laughed at that comment and Cyrus smiled apologetically. He hadn’t meant to sound sarcastic, and he was glad his boss wasn’t nearby. TJ didn’t seem to mind though.

“Did you have a particular genre or type of book that you’re interested in?” he asked, ready to move past his comment.

TJ just shrugged. “I’m pretty open to anything. As long as it’s interesting.”

Cyrus paused, trying to think. ‘Anything interesting’ was a pretty broad scope, and he wasn’t sure what to recommend. 

“What’s something that you read recently that you really enjoyed?” TJ asked. Cyrus cast his mind back. The last few books he had read were LGBTQ focused, but he still wasn’t sure about TJ in that regard, and he wanted to tread carefully. Instead, he pulled up the listing of popular books.

“If you like historical fiction,  _ All the Ways We Said Goodbye  _ is a new one,” he said. “If you want mystery, there’s a million James Patterson books. Or Agatha Christie for a more classic read. Anything by Fredrik Backman is pretty great too.”

“Give me a book,” TJ said, grinning. Cyrus looked up in surprise.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Tell me one of your favorite books and I’ll get it,” he replied. 

“Um, okay,” Cyrus said, mind racing furiously. Why was it that he was now forgetting every book he had ever read. Except for the gay ones, of course.

“ _ A Man Called Ove _ ,” he finally blurted out. “Fredrik Backman. It’s really good. You might cry.”

“Sounds interesting,” TJ said with a smile. “Where can I find it?”

Cyrus gave him the general location and TJ headed off. He let out a sigh that he hoped the other guy couldn’t hear. Why was it that he got so nervous around TJ? Okay, he knew the answer to that, but it wasn’t like he had never interacted with a cute guy before. Maybe it was because it seemed like TJ kept making an effort to interact with him, and was always giving him those wide, soft grins. As much as he wanted to pretend like he wasn’t interested, he couldn’t help his feelings.

TJ came back a few minutes later, book in hand. As Cyrus checked it out, he commented,

“Is there a way for me to search for books on my own?”

“Yeah, we have an online catalog,” Cyrus told him. “You can check to see if we have the book, where it is, and even put stuff on hold from home.”

“Can I do it here too?” TJ asked.

“I mean, sure,” Cyrus said in slight confusion. “We have kiosks all around the library where you can search the catalog.”

“Awesome,” TJ said, grabbing his book. “I like coming here. Don’t want an excuse to do everything from home.”

And with that he left, tossing a cheery wave at Cyrus as he went. 

\---

The next time TJ came to the library, he had a list with him.

“I’ve got a few that I want to check out,” he told Cyrus. “I did some searching online, and there are a lot that caught my interest.”

“Sounds good,” Cyrus said. “How did you like the last one?”

TJ glared at him for a moment, but Cyrus could tell that he wasn’t serious. “A warning would have been nice! I don’t think I’ve ever cried from reading a book before!”

“I did warn you,” Cyrus told him, unable to hide a smile.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think it would actually be that emotional,” TJ grumbled.

“So...you liked it?” Cyrus prodded.

“Oh yeah, it was amazing,” TJ said. “I loved it! I’ll definitely have to check out his other books. But not today.”

“Did you need help finding anything?” Cyrus asked, more than a little curious at what TJ was looking for. The other guy squinted down at his list.

“Maybe,” he replied. “I looked these up on the catalog and it says that you have them all. But some say ‘YA’ fiction and others say ‘AD’ fiction. What does that mean?”

“‘YA’ means ‘young adult,’” Cyrus said. “Those will be down the hall near the children’s section. ‘AD’ is for ‘adult,’ and those will be upstairs where you found the other book. All should be alphabetical by author’s last name.”

“Awesome,” TJ said, grinning widely. “I’ll be back.” He strolled down towards the YA section, and left Cyrus wondering what the result would be. 

He spent the next twenty minutes checking out a number of people before TJ reappeared, a hefty stack of books piled in his arms. Cyrus raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“Find everything?” he asked as TJ plopped the pile down onto the counter and pulled out his card.

“Yup,” TJ replied. “Just where you said.” 

As Cyrus started scanning the books, he couldn’t help but notice what TJ was taking out.

_ Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue _

_ They Both Die At the End _

_ What If It’s Us? _

_ Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda _

Okay. So, that was a number of books that featured gay characters. That didn’t necessarily mean anything. 

_ Red, White, & Royal Blue _

_ Less _

_ I’ll Give You The Sun _

_ The Miseducation of Cameron Post _

_ Will Grayson, Will Grayson _

They were trained to not comment on things that people checked out. Privacy was a big concern in the library, and it was their job to protect that privacy. Cyrus had people come up with books about dealing with divorces and cheating, eating disorders, and other sensitive topics. Adults who didn’t have children checked out movies or books geared towards younger age groups. And sometimes people checked out books that primarily featured LGBTQ characters and themes.

Cyrus had always valued the privacy of the library when he wanted to read books that were like that. The self checkouts and online ebook catalogue had been a godsend when he was a teenager and still not ready to come out yet. He knew there were plenty of others who took advantage of that as well. He knew he would have felt uncomfortable if a librarian had commented on his choice of reading material back then, and he never said anything to anyone about what they were checking out unless they said something first.

But here was TJ, having made a point of telling him that he had found a lot of books he was interested in reading. All of them were LGBTQ books. Almost all of them featured two guys in a relationship.

His training overrode his curiosity, and he didn’t make a direct comment to TJ about his book selection. Besides, what was he going to say? “Any reason you’re checking all these out?” Not likely.

“Have you read any of these?” TJ asked him instead, startling him out of his thoughts. Cyrus looked up at him in surprise. 

“I’ve seen some reviews,” TJ said, “but I like to know what an expert would think.”

“An expert?” Cyrus asked, still feeling slightly taken aback by the question.

“Well, who else would be an expert on books but a librarian?” TJ grinned at him. Trying not to show how flustered he was, Cyrus scanned the titles again.

“I haven’t read all of them,” he said. “But I’ve read most of them, and the ones I have are pretty good.”

“Awesome,” TJ said, still grinning widely. “Which one is your favorite?” 

“Um,” Cyrus replied. Why was it whenever someone asked him his opinion on books, his mind went completely blank. “Well,  _ Miseducation  _ is a great coming-of-age.  _ They Both Die  _ is a tearjerker. Which the title kind of gives away.  _ Gentleman’s Guide _ is historically based and really good.”

“Do any stand out to you in particular?” TJ asked. Cyrus shrugged. 

“They’re all pretty different from one another as far as genre and story line. Which is great, because you have a good variety. I guess it kind of depends on what mood you’re in.”

“Well, I can’t wait to find out which one is my favorite,” TJ said, scooped up his pile,  _ winked  _ at Cyrus and left. 

Okay then. That just happened.

Cyrus was in a daze for the rest of his shift, not sure how to take in what just happened. He was pretty sure that TJ was flirting with him, but he really couldn’t be sure.

\----

“He’s definitely flirting with you.”

Even though they were talking on the phone, Cyrus could practically hear Buffy rolling her eyes. 

“Come on Cy, I know you’re smart enough to know,” she said. “What’s the hesitation about?”

“Well, for one thing, he’s a patron,” Cyrus said. “It’s not very professional of me to flirt with a patron. And up until today, I was pretty sure he was straight.”

“And now you’re pretty sure he’s not. So what are you going to do about it?” she asked. There was a slight thumping noise that he kept hearing from her end, which led him to believe that she was tossing a basketball at the mini hoop she had in her room.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You know I’m terrible at making a move. And it is unprofessional for me to ask him out while I’m working. It’s not worth risking my job just because he’s cute.”

He could tell she was grinning at his admission, and he tried to ignore the teasing lilt in her voice.

“But if he asks you out first, would you say yes?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “But maybe he doesn’t want to risk unprofessionality either.”

Buffy sighed. “Can any of this happen outside of work?”

“I’ve never seen him anywhere but the library,” Cyrus said. Not to say that he hadn’t been looking. It wasn’t that big of a town. There was a likelihood that they could run into each other while grocery shopping. But so far, TJ had only seemed to exist in the library.

“Well, if you’re not going to ask him out, you can turn up the flirting. Not a ton, but maybe just a little,” she suggested. 

“I guess,” he replied doubtfully. He wasn’t very good at flirting when he made a conscious effort to do so. But TJ had captured his interest, and there was no use in denying that fact anymore.

\---

The next few days at work, Cyrus was on tenterhooks, waiting for TJ to come in. He didn’t seem to have a regular schedule by any means, so he never knew when to expect the other guy. A few days passed, and it wasn’t until Thursday of that week that TJ showed up. Cyrus was up by the reference desk, and absorbed in his work. It had been very quiet all evening, and he was taking advantage of that to get some projects done. Someone paused in front of the desk, and when he glanced up, his heart gave a flutter of excitement when he realized who it was.

“Hey,” TJ said, leaning on the counter so that he was a little closer to Cyrus. The heart flutterings intensified.

“Hi,” Cyrus replied. “Didn’t think you’d be back so soon after that stack of books you took out last time.”

“Oh, I’ve got plenty to go,” TJ assured him. “But I’m enjoying what I have read so far. I needed to print some things off. I do like the color printing here.”

“It is pretty popular,” Cyrus said. Was that flirty? He didn't think so. Why was he so bad at this?

“Hey, I had a question,” TJ continued.

“Sure,” Cyrus said, mentally switching into librarian mode.

“You have like, a profile on me, right? That’s attached to my card?” TJ started out.

“Yeah, everyone does,” Cyrus replied, not sure where this was going.

“So, all my information is in there, right?”

“Yes,” Cyrus said, still confused.

“Is my phone number in there?”

“It should be.”

“So, you could look it up, right?”

“Did you forget what your phone number is?” Cyrus asked, a teasing tone to his voice.

“No,” TJ grinned. “So you could know what it is.”

Cyrus bit his lip as he realized where TJ was going with it.

“Oh,” he said, then winced slightly.

“Is...that a problem?” TJ asked, looking concerned for the first time, and backing away from the counter slightly.

“Well, technically I shouldn't. It’s a privacy thing,” Cyrus said, giving him an apologetic look. “Your record should only be accessed for library reasons.”

“No, I get it,” TJ said, standing up completely, looking slightly disappointed. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“However, if you were to, say, just give it to me yourself outside of the context of your account information, then it would be okay,” Cyrus said, smiling softly. TJ considered what he said, and his face slowly lit up in a grin again. 

He leaned forward, grabbed a pen and piece of scrap paper, and scribbled his number down. Sliding it across the counter to Cyrus, he resumed his leaning position. Cyrus took the piece of paper and tucked it into his pocket. He glanced up and met TJ’s gaze. TJ gave him an inquiring look.

“I can’t make personal calls while I’m at the desk,” Cyrus said. “But my shift ends at seven.”

TJ grinned and stood back up. “Then I’ll let you get back to work,” he said. Walking over to one of the computers, he plopped down and logged on. Cyrus attempted to refocus on his work, but it was almost as though the little piece of paper was burning a hole in his pocket. Not to mention, he was very aware of TJ sitting right behind him. 

The rest of his shift seemed to drag on, and TJ left a little bit before seven, waving as he went. When Cyrus was finally done, he collapsed into his car and pulled out the paper. He studied the number for a moment before finally punching it into his phone.

“Hello?” came TJ’s voice, sounding tentatively excited.

“Hi, someone gave me this number at work today,” Cyrus said. “Not really sure why; maybe they had a reference question?”

TJ’s laugh filled his ear. “Yeah, he was wondering if you knew of any nice restaurants around here.”

“I think I can help with that,” Cyrus said, a giant smile spreading across his face. “How does Aliotas at seven thirty sound?”

“Sounds fantastic to me.”


End file.
